While many “political” activities are banned during the election period leading to the May 13 polls, the “Pag-ulikid Program” in Iloilo City is not one of them.

Still, the local Commission on Elections said candidates in the local polls should not take part in the program’s activities as this could be an election offense.

“This activity is exempted. It happened a long time ago and the function of the activity should be continuous in nature,” said city administrator Hernando Galvez.

Galvez cited Section 9 of the Commission on Elections’ Resolution No. 10511 that lists exemptions to the election ban.

Pag-ulikid is the brainchild program of Mayor Jose Espinosa III, who is running for reelection.

It provides free services such as medical and dental consultation, legal advice assistance, processing of birth, marriage, and death certificates, ID application for senior citizens and assistance for fire and calamity victims.

Galvez said the intention of the project is to provide services to the people even without the elections.

Activities banned by the Comelec during the election period include public works, disbursement and spending of public funds, and delivery of materials.

Public works under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) schemes are not covered by the ban.

Non-infrastructure projects that pertain to social welfare and services are also exempted but concerned local government units must file a Petition of Exception from the Comelec.

While Galvez said there is no need to seek exemption for Pag-ulikid, Comelec Iloilo City assistant Jonathan Sayno said City Hall should seek exemption from Comelec to be safe.

Sayno added electoral candidates or officials should be banned during the program or event, or their participation may be deemed an election offense.

Iloilo City Mayor Jose “Joe” Espinosa III expressed disappointment that some complimentary tickets for the Dinagyang Festival are being illegally sold at exorbintant prices.

Espinosa recently released a total of 1,000 VIP Dinagyang tickets to select individuals.

A message on Facebook through its Messenger application surfaced recently claiming that 200 of such tickets for the Iloilo City Dinagyang Grandstand on Muelle Loney Street were being sold from P1,600 to P1,800 each.

Tickets at the Maria Clara performance area, originally priced at P1,600, were being resold from P2,200 to P2,500 each, it also claimed.

“If these are proven to be true, then I am really disappointed,” Espinosa said.

“For them to sell the tickets for monetary consideration is truly disturbing and speaks a lot about their twisted values,” he added.

According to him, he already ordered City Administrator Hernando Galvez to investige the matter.

ILOILO CITY — The city government on Wednesday reiterated the policy banning the carrying of firearms inside the city hall.

This was stated by City Administrator Hernando Galvez following the apprehension of the body guards of Councilor Plaridel Nava by the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) on Monday, who were tagged as suspects in the killing of the councilor’s cousin.

As part of hot pursuit operations, police apprehended siblings Roy and Rey Julius de los Reyes, who later admitted before that their three caliber .45 pistols were unlicensed.

“It is with regret that perhaps we have to remind them that they are not supposed to bring their firearms inside the city hall. Probably out of due courtesy because they happened to be the staff of a city official, thus they are not subjected to frisking,” Galvez said in an interview.

Galvez added that following the incident, security guards have been instructed by the Office of the City Mayor to be stricter, otherwise they will be sanctioned.

The security guards are located at both entrances of the city hall. A police is also assigned on the sixth floor, where the office of the SP is located, while other floors of the seven-story city hall have assigned police auxiliaries.

He stated that much as they would like to investigate the office of Nava, yet they have no authority because he is under the jurisdiction of the Sangguniang Panlungsod.

“The administrative authority is not with the mayor but with the Sangguniang Panglungsod, particular the Office of the Vice Mayor,” he said.

In a separate interview Tuesday, Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon recommended that a detector be placed at the city hall so that firearms can be easily detected.

He also encouraged councilors, who legally possess firearms, to furnish the security guards with their permit to carry and other necessary documents.

“We have to secure the people and not just the public officials,” he said.

Meantime, Senior Supt. Martin Defensor Jr., director of the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO), on Wednesday confirmed that a case for illegal possession of firearms have been filed against the de los Reyes brothers.

They were also charged for their participation in the Jan. 4 killing of Mercedes Nava, the cousin of councilor Nava. (PNA)

City Administrator Hernando Galvez said Espinosa formed the QRTs to ensure effective services and to prevent abuses by government officials and offices.

Galvez added the QRTs will have a different function from the Customer Care Center.

Figures from the Iloilo City Police Office showed 67 percent of the total crime volume in the city involves traffic-related incidents.

“If we can control/address the number of traffic related incidents we can significantly decrease the Average Monthly Crime Rate in the city,” said former ICPO director Senior Superintendent Henry Biñas.

After getting flak for the continued traffic jams in Iloilo City, City Hall is tightening the implementation of an existing truck ban.

Iloilo City Administrator Hernando Galvez said his office would communicate with the Transportation Management and Traffic Regulation Office to evaluate the implementation.

But offhand, Galvez cited the need to post signage to inform the public of the truck ban ordinance in the first place.

Also, the Iloilo City Government will provide “Truck Ban Stickers” to be posted on the trucks’ windshields.

Trucks without these stickers shall not be allowed to pass through, park, to load and unload on streets covered by the ordinance.

Under the truck ban ordinance, “mini-lorries” delivering diesel fuel to commercial establishments are allowed to cross the city streets at any time of the day.

Figures from the Iloilo City government as of July 2018 showed 147 truck ban violators had been apprehended.

Meanwhile, Galvez downplayed speculations of a rift with the PSTMO. The supposed rift prompted Mayor Jose Espinosa III to assure the public of “unity” in the city government amid recent exchanges between Galvez and PSTMO head Jeck Conlu.

Earlier, Galvez had claimed implementation of traffic laws was lax, while Conlu disagreed.

Following the arrest of an employee for using illegal drugs, the Iloilo City government vowed to conduct more random drug tests.

City Mayor Jose Espinosa III said more random drug testing and ocular inspections at City Hall are due to remind employees of his zero tolerance on illegal drugs.

“As public servants, it is our moral obligation to get rid of illegal drugs. Always remind yourself that we must perform our work efficiently and effectively because the people of Iloilo City deserve nothing than the highest ethical standards,” he said.

He also urged residents to heed on the call of President Rodrigo Duterte to eradicate the ugly menace of illegal drugs.

Earlier this month, Winstone Porras, 48, a regular employee of the City Planning and Development Office, was arrested for allegedly selling four sachets of suspected shabu at Commission Civil Street in Barangay Fatima.

Following the arrest, Espinosa said he has instructed City Administrator Hernando Galvez to look into the necessary legal actions.

Also, Espinosa assured he will continue to push for programs against illegal drugs and that he will be cooperating with programs of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Some City Hall task forces in Iloilo City may soon face the ax from Mayor Jose Espinosa III, if they are found to have outlived their usefulness.

Espinosa said he is open to the idea after City Administrator Hernando Galvez said he may evaluate task forces under the city government.

Also, Espinosa said that job hires should understand the nature of their work, as their employment is subject to change “any time and any day.”.

The city government earlier dismissed 32 job hires under the Special Service Division and Task Force Anti-Squatting and Illegal Structures (ASIS) of the Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO).

It also dismissed 40 more from the city government’s beautification program.

PSTMO head Jeck Conlu said that department heads should have been notified of such actions.

Meanwhile, Espinosa said the hiring and firing of job hires stops with the mayor but the recommendation on who, what, how, and how to proceed is with the City Administrator’s Office.

“Recommendations should be for the better and not the worst and should only be for efficiency and transparency,” he said.

Upon receiving the recommendations, the mayor assured that they will try to discuss the pros and cons of the abolition of task forces and transfer of personnel.

For his part, Galvez said that they have been recommending the abolition of certain task forces since last year.